GS Caltex KANG So-Hwi is hitting the ball really well this season and I really like watching her play recently. She would have been my pick for MVP if GS Caltex had won the match. She still has room for improvement, especially with her reception. So-Hwi is currently the best Korean spiker with a success rate of 39.43% and she is also the second highest Korean point scorer (7th overall - 391pts) in the league only behind Heungkuk LEE Jae-Yeong (6th overall - 404pts).

- Playing without a foreign player, Hyundai was favourite to lose against IBK Altos. With Madison KINGDON/RISHEL leading the way for IBK and scoring 43pts, it was a massive all-around team effort by Hyundai to defeat IBK. Despite IBK winning more points from spikes, Hyundai made up for it mainly with their blocking (17 to 6) and servicing (9 to 3) and had four players scored double-digit points. Also, IBK let themselves down with poor reception and committed more errors.

Hyundai captain YANG Hyo-Jin was awarded MVP for the match scored 19pts and in doing so became the second female player to score 4,500 points. Hyo-Jin who also managed to get 4 blocks in the match, also became the first player from either men or women to achieved 1,000 successful blocks since the establishment of the V-League.

For a setter, LEE Da-Yeong is a blocking really well. Da-Yeong has 51 blocks (0.58 per set), even more than veteran MB like KIM Su-Ji who only has 43 blocks (0.48 per set) this season. I have to say it is really exciting to seeing her spike the ball hard sometimes from the OP position. It like a mirror image of Lee Jae-Yeong from the OH position.

Finally, rookie KIM Ju-Hyang made a short but impressive debut scoring 2pts from 2 good spikes. Ju-Hyang is tall and strong in attack but lacks experiences in reception but if she keeps practising her reception she could be Hyundai answer next season for the 2nd OH if they draft an OP foreign player next season.

- Further good news for Hyundai, it has been reported that Hyundai E&C have selected 29 years old OP Sona Mikyskova from Czech Republic as their new foreign player. Sona arrived in South Korea yesterday on the 6th and Hyundai E&C are hoping that Sona will be able to play in their next match against Heungkuk once all paperwork has been completed. Last year she was at the tryout but was not selected. Sona has played for clubs in Czech Republic, France, Poland, and was currently playing for Bangkok Glass VC in Thailand this season.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

- IBK Altos players KIM Hee-Jin, YEOM Hye-Seon, LEE Go-Eun, KIM Hye-Sun, and PYEON Ji-Su were involved in a car accident on Sunday 4th February. Yeom Hye-Seon was not part of the team for the match against Hyundai E&C as her nasal cartilage was damaged in the accident. She had surgery on the 5th and it will be 2-3 days before she can start training again. Sources: 1, 2

FYI, BAE Yoo-Na with 5 blocks from the match she has set a new personal best for herself this season with 66 blocks; the highest number of blocks she has ever achieved and her average of 0.65 per set are also her best too. Also of note is the difference between the total point score between Yoo-Na and Hyundai E&C YANG Hyo-Jin (IMHO the two best Korean MBs at the moment) is massive. Apparently, both started in the V-League the same year but now the latter is about 2,000 points ahead. Despite that, this is definitely Yoo-Na best season as her spike success rate is also the highest it has ever been at 44.27%.

- Hyundai E&C tied the record for the most consecutive point scored with 11 points
- Hyundai E&C tied the record for the most consecutive number of services with 11 serves.

Heungkuk were in a position to win this match but blew their chances to win this match and any minuscule hope of making the playoffs goodbye. The match was in Heungkuk grasp after winning the 1st set. But In the 2nd set, whilst Heungkuk was leading 14-9 they were outscored by Hyundai 2-16 and eventually when on to lose the 2nd set 16-25.

Huengkuk had another big lead leading 15-9 in the 3rd set. After trailing 16-11 at the 2nd T.O., Hyundai came back to tie the score at 18-18. Heungkuk fought back to stop Hyundai run of points to earn themselves 5 set points with the score at 24-19. With 5 set points, Heungkuk was expected to win this 3rd set by all means. However, Hyundai miraculously once again came back to draw level at 24-24 and eventually when on to snatch the 3rd set with a score of 30-32.

In the 4th set, Hyundai provided Heungkuk with more misery. Trailing Heungkuk 12-14, Hyundai when on their record-equalling run of 11 consecutive points and 11 consecutive serves to lead Hyundai 23-14. Hyundai might have even broken these records if not for double contact by LEE Da-Yeong whilst setting the ball. Despite the halt on their runs, Hyundai easily closed out the set and match 25-16.

Heungkuk LEE Jae-Yeong and Kristina MIKHAILENKO were striking the ball much better this match with success rates of 41.86% and 45.16 respectively. Overall Heungkuk receptions were poorer than their previous match, but a few of the reception failures in this match was due to Hyundai services touching the top of the net and dropping out of reach in front of the receivers.

Hyundai HWANG Youn-Joo was fantastic with a match-high 30pts. Youn-Joo had her best match this season and show why she is the all-time leading point scorer with spike success rate of 50.94% and 3 aces.

Hyundai new recruit Sona MIKYSKOVA had a slow start to her debut match but finally settled in the 2nd set. Sona was decent in the scoring with 41.38% success rate, 2 aces and 2 blocks but reception is a concern.

IMO Fatou DIOUCK cost GS Caltex the game. As great as she has been stats wise, for me it seems like she fails to win crucial points a lot of the time. She had plenty of chances in the 3rd set to close out the match but was unable to. In the 5th set, she had a few more chance to redeem herself but once again she fails to score. Also, I can't believe GS Caltex decided to keep on setting to DIOUCK even though they failed to score repeatedly from the same play.

Honestly, I can't see GS Caltex renewing DIOUCK's contract for next season. At the moment, out of all the foreign players, I can only see Ivana NESOVIC getting her contract renewed for next season. Madison KINGDON and Alaina BERGSMA can't renew even if they want it to as current KOVO rules only allow foreign players to renew only once.

KANG So-Hwi continues to perform well and along with GS Caltex rookie HAN Su-Jin (little rocket IMO) really cause trouble for IBK with their serves.

Beside the setter and liberos, lead by Madison all of IBK Altos other regular starters scored a decent amount of points (4 players with double-digit points, it would have been 5 players had KIM Su-Ji scored 1 more point).

- Heungkuk became the 1st team to achieved 1,800 successful service aces with 4 from the match (currently with 1,801 service aces).

- Heungkuk attack success rate is the worst in the league at 34%, whilst the top three spiking teams have a success rate above the 39% mark. Heungkuk failure to have enough OHs amazed me. Currently, Heungkuk only has 4 OHs but are down to 3 as SHIN Yeon-Gyeong is out injured for the rest of the season. Heungkuk LEE Jae-Yeong looks tired, after 25 matches Jae-Yeong has taken close to 80 more swings this season than she did all of last season (currently the most swing for a Korean player, about 200 more than other Korean players but about 200 less than the foreign players).

- Hi-pass have managed well to minimised PARK Jeong-Ah reception duties this season with MOON Jung-Won and libero YIM Myung-Ok most of the time taking on the reception alone or Hi-pass replaces Jeong-Ah when she in the back. Despite only having MOON Jung-Won and libero YIM Myung-Ok take on the bulk of the receptions alone, Hi-pass has the best record in the league for receptions this season.

Haven't watched the match yet but looking at the stats I am really surprised at the number or should I say lack or number next to Sona MIKYSKOVA.
Sona had a total of 9 attempts with 3 spiking errors and 3 spikes blocked. I wonder if Sona is the first foreign player to have played and not to score a single point in a V-League match?

Despite both teams scoring a similar number of points, Hyundai E&C went back to their old bad habits of committing so many errors and basically gave the match away. Hyundai E&C might be in real trouble again this late in the season.

GS Caltex Fatou DIOUCK seems to have played much better this match as her spike success rate was 43.14% and she only committed 1 hitting error for the entire match. The only downside for Fatou was that her spikes got stuff blocked 5 times during the match.

Important win for GS Caltex, this keeps them mathematically in the race for the last place in the playoffs. Trailing Hyundai E&C by 14 points, GS Caltex with 5 matches remaining will still need a miracle to make the playoffs. Basically, they will need to win all their remain 5 matches 3-0 or 3-1 and hope that Hyundai E&C lose all their matches 3-0 or 3-1. Hyundai E&C will need to get at least 2 points to knock GS Caltex out of the playoffs. Funny enough they will be each other first opponent in Round 6 next Tuesday 20th.

Also with IBK Altos win over KGC Ginseng 2 days ago, IBK Altos have secured their place in the playoffs but it still leaves KGC Ginseng in the running for the last playoff position too. However, trailing Hyundai E&C by 12 points KGC Ginseng fight for the playoffs is nearly as difficult as GS Caltex.

- Hyundai E&C became the 1st team to achieved 3,500 successful block points with 13 from the match (currently with 3,506 successful block points).
- Hyundai E&C became the 4th team to achieved 20,000 successful spike points with 70 from the match (currently with 20,045 successful spike points).